It’s been a month since I quit my corporate job to become a personal chef and a food content creator. A bold move that surprised many around me. I learned so much in the first month. And since there is no ‘Personal Chef 101’ out there. I thought this might be a piece of good information for those who are interested in pursuing this line of work.

On June 9th, 2023, I turned in my two-week notice; quitting a company and a career I had pursued for seven years wasn’t easy. But it also wasn’t as hard as I thought It would be. The reality didn’t hit me until the ‘Where am I going next?’ questions poured in after I posted the ‘I quit’ story on Instagram.

Since ‘Personal Chef’ didn’t ring a bell for most people, I responded either that I was starting my own business, pursuing cooking full-time, or getting a job cooking for a rich family. I don’t blame them for not knowing what a personal chef is. Before I found this job, the only thing I knew about ‘Personal Chef’ was this Tiktok lady who was showing her one day in the life of a personnel chef in Beverly Hills (She was quite inspiring actually). But that was it. I had to go through trial and error processes to create the workflow from scratch. This may not work for everyone, but here is how I did it.

So, what is a personal chef?

A personal chef is a chef who provides meal services in a client’s home. The work usually includes menu creation, grocery shopping, cooking, and kitchen cleaning. Personal chefs can be hired for different occasions, whether on the regular or special events like birthday parties or Thanksgiving dinners.

Finding Clients

I only have one client at the moment, but the first is the most important, so I will speak about this topic regardless of my lack of experience.

I found a ‘Personal Chef’ listing on Indeed.com when I was searching for a ‘Japanese speaking’ role. It was a perfect role for me since they were looking for someone who could cook a variety of cuisine, especially Asian cuisine. The schedule is also great since I will have weekends and afternoons to get more clients or do other things.

I put together a resume listing all food-related work I have done so far since college and a summary highlighting that I have experienced all these cuisines firsthand while living there. I also attached a 3-page pdf of my cooking Instagram to the application as a portfolio. There were a few other requirements, like information for background checks and a WA state food work license, that I had to submit together with the application.

A few days after submission, I had a virtual interview with the client, I’d already got the role at that point, but I asked them for a trial weekend since I was quitting my full-time job and wanted to make sure we were a good match. They were okay with that; I did the trial and loved the experience. We signed a contract, and then I was ready to start.

From now on, I’m trying to generate social media and online presents (Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and LinkedIn) to serve as my cooking portfolio and, at the same time, reach potential future clients.

Meal Planning

This may depend on each client’s preferences, but mine gave me quite the freedom to choose what to cook each week with a few considerations.

Healthy, as in, healthy fat, plenty of veggies, and moderate carb
Variety of cuisine, for example, if Thai for lunch then something else for dinner
Low mercury fish/seafood
Vegan every Friday

*Vegan Mexican party for one of the Vegan Fridays*

I have to be done planning the meals by Sunday night to have a complete list of ingredients for grocery shopping in the coming week. To accomplish this, I invested in an app called ‘Recipe Keeper.’ This app is a lifesaver.

It allows you to create recipes from scratch, add recipes from the web, images, or even pdf. Surprisingly it also works with all languages I use (meaning it can extract recipes from websites in English, Thai, Japanese, and Korean that I know of). Having to cook around 25-30 dishes a week, I don’t always cook my own recipe and rely on recipes I find in books or online. By adding recipes to this app, I can easily add all ingredients to a shopping list, which helps save so much time.

Another plus is that I have a record of all recipes I have cooked for the client so far, with a rating of how much they enjoyed the dish. After a month, I have cooked 105 dishes so far.

Other things I consider in addition to the clients’ asks

Quick recipe on a grocery shopping day since I will have to arrange the fridge & prep for the rest of the week
Dishes for dinner should be those that taste good even after reheat
Variety of vegetables
Seasonality and weather

*Monthly view of planned meals in Recipe Keeper*

Prepping, Cooking, and Cleaning

I start each prepping session by soaking and washing fruits and vegetables in baking soda. Based on this study, soaking apples in baking soda for at least 15 minutes effectively removes common pesticides in and on the apple. With apples known to have the most pesticide, the measure should also work with other veggies.

The easiest part is the cooking. For any complex recipe I’ve never cooked before, I may try to cook it at home or review it before the day just to be sure. Be mindful of any special tools that may not be available in the client’s kitchen, and bring them on the day.

For cleaning, I try to clean as I cook so the wrap-up gets easier. Lastly, I always practice standard food safety measures throughout the session.

Other administrative tasks

In a way, a personal chef is a freelance job from the IRS perspective. So it is best to keep personal and business expenses separate. In WA, sole propriety does not need to be registered. So you can go ahead and open business accounts without any prerequisite.

I opened a checking account to receive/make payments, a savings account to put some money away each period for future income tax paying (basically, withholding taxes by myself), and a business credit card to pay for any expenses related to personal chef and other businesses such as this website.

I also keep all receipts, both physically and digitally. And provide an official invoice to my client every two weeks, which will serve as a supporting document for my income.

For general accounting work, since my business is still small and pretty straightforward, I am doing my own accounting by creating a mini ERP in Google Sheets, consisting of a chart of accounts, general ledgers, and a client master. I hope I won’t have to hire anyone to file my taxes, but we will see.

Conclusion

A personal chef is someone who cooks for a client in a private setting, usually at the client’s home. The job usually includes meal planning, grocery shopping, cooking, and kitchen cleaning. The barrier to entering this business is moderate; the biggest obstacle is finding clients. Social media and online presents can help with finding clients. So far, I enjoy improving my client's life through clean and good food. And at the same time, reducing food waste as I planned and used up all perishable each week. That was my first-month journey, and I hope this information is helpful to any personal chef enthusiast or anyone interested in hiring a personal chef. Thank you for reading, and I hope to see you again!

Personal Chef Journey: What I learned so far